This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting was opened by CJ Stoffer, Mayor at 6:30 PM.
Present: Lewis McLaughlin, Keith St.Clair Sue Bartow, Myers Miller, Tyler Hughes
Absent: Pat Betts, Sec/Treas, Brian Litzinger, Solicitor
Public Attendance Clark Baird and Mellissa Miller
First order of business is to swear the existing newly elected officials into office. Lou mentions that we have an open seat also. CJ, gave Keith, & Lou their forms to re swear them into office.
CJ also gave Myers Miller an App for oath of office. Myers asked about the difference between the 2 oaths of office.
Keith showed Myers the difference between the two.
CJ asked everyone to stand up to get sworn in. Each person swore to the oath.
Sue immediately nominated Lou for President, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Sue asked Keith to be Vice President, 2nd by Myers, all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep Pat as Sec/Treas until her position can be filled, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Sue nominated Lou to continue as Street Commissioner, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Lou asked if everyone wanted to take care of the vacant council seat now or during the regular meeting.
Lou said he has notice of Clark Baird wanting to take the vacant seat. Lou asked if anyone else was interested in the seat. Tyler Hughes spoke up with interest.
Sue motions to accept Tyler Hughes for the position, 2nd by Keith, all in favor, Lou declines, Sue Yes, Keith Yes, Myers no comment. Motion passed.
Clark spoke up to say, you are giving up someone who has 30 plus years on council for someone who has no experience at all. Lou commented that, that was his thought and that is why he did not go along with it.
CJ asked if any other business was to be conducted before closing.
Lou said before we go any further he would like to thank Clark for his time and service with the Council and as Mayor.
CJ also had everyone sign for their keys, and an emergency contact form for everyone to complete.
Lou said we also need to appoint an Assistant Street Commissioner.
Sue motions to nominate Gladine as Assistant Street Commissioner, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Lou also mention that Myers and Tyler need to file a residency certificate also.
CJ passed out the new Ethics Forms for everyone to complete.
Lou invited Tyler to come sit at council table and stated there was nothing personal about his not voting for him. He just thought Clark had more experience.
Lou gave CJ the Mayor keys.
Sue said at this time she would like to nominate Keith StClair to keep his position on the sewage board. His term expired on Dec 2025. His nomination will keep Keith on sewage board for another 4 years.
Keith said he would accept the position, all in favor motion passed.
Sue also would like to keep S & T Bank in Blairsville as our depository for the accounts, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep Singer Accounting in Ligonier as our auditor, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep FWF Insurance as our carrier, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep Myers Miller as chairman of vacancy board, Lou 2nd’s all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to GAI Consultants as our engineer, 2nd by Lou, all I favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep Keith StClair as our EMC person, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Sue motions to keep Eric Kosics as our tax collector representative, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Keith brought up the mention of replacing Pat as Sec/Treas and said that we did have a gentlemen that was willing to take over. Discussion was made on the subject and at the present time we have no one to replace her.
Lou asked about BJ Brett. He has never returned his keys. Sue said BJ is now in Latrobe. She can check with his ex-wife.
CJ said that Jeff is not staying on with sewage board. We need to have another person. Lou asked Tyler if he would be interested in the position.
Sue nominates Tyler to replace Jeffery on the sewage board, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Motion to close Re-Organization meeting at 6:55 PM made by Lou, 2nd by Jeffery, all in favor motion passed.
Regular Meeting
Meeting opened by Lou McLaughlin, President
Present: Keith St.Clair, Sue Bartow, CJ Stoffer- Mayor, Tyler Hughes, Myers Miller, and Lou McLaughlin
Absent: Pat Betts
General Public: Mellissa Miller
Special Guest: Keith Vasas, engineer for Borough
Old Business:
Approval of December minutes
Keith motions to accept minutes, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.
Approval of Treasurer Report
Sue asked about the street lights from July on the report. The amount was corrected and refunded to us.
Keith motions to accept report, 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed.
Special guest- Keith Vasas
He congratulated us on receiving the funds.
Keith was introduced to CJ, Tyler and Myers.
The first sheet you will see the print off of the announcement by the state. Bolivar received the large amount from Local Share Grant award.
Keith explained the LSA funds are funded by the casinos.
Keith showed everyone the first map which was 5th Street.
We also got word from the county for phase 3 of the CDBG.
Keith said when he did the LSA Grant he did not want to restrict where the funds go. We can use LSA grant to go off the CDBG phase. On either side of 5th Street.
There is an amount for engineer fees in the LSA grant we can use to offset the CDBG as well.
Also funds are in for the administration fees. Pat could do this and get paid for it, if Keith did not we could not. Keith said he could help out where needed.
The CDBG drawing is representing phase 3 & 4. We put in 15 % of engineer fees. The most we would be out of pocket would be $50,000
Keith would like to do is work with both program administrators and bid both all at once so the project could be completed at the same time.
Sue asked about the 15%. She wanted to know about the income surveys for the lower part of town.
Keith said the income surveys were already done on phase 3 & 4.
Keith said we can also do a top coat of asphalt the whole way up 5th Street with the extra funds.
This time he will do and Engineer agreement for us to sign.
Keith StClair motions to have Lou sign the engineer agreements, 2nd by Sue all in favor motion passed.
Update on Sec/Treasurer replacement
Lou said we hired another person and she ended up turning it down. We are back at square one again.
Update on Salt Delivery
Lou said we don’t have any. He called the company and Gladine has also called. The company said we have 5 days to get the salt delivery. Lou said he was told because of the holidays we should get sometime this week.
ATM Lease
Lou said we just got a check for $250 from Somerset Trust. The contract is not renegotiable again until Nov 2029.
No other old business
New Business:
Auditing of the books.
Books will be audited on Jan 8th. Pat will be down for that.
Banquet for Fire Company.
The annual banquet is coming up and the Mayor is invited to attend. If the Mayor cannot attend then someone else from Council can attend.
US Census Bureau for Mayor to complete.
CJ read the notice. Sue mentioned we did not have any so CJ can just respond to that.
Transfer of funds for the parks of $2500 per Ordinance
Keith motions to transfer the funds, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Any other business:
Lou said some people are a little disgruntled with the snow plowing situation with doing damage to a portion of their yards when plowing. Lou said as before when winter is over we go back and fix up any yards that the plow had done damage to in the spring.
We won’t ask CJ for the Mayor report since he just started.
Sewage Report
Lou asked if sewage was going to do. Sue said meeting next week. Lou asked if we got a sewage report from them yet.
Street Commissioner Report:
Truck is running smoothly and snow is piling up. Sue motions to get extra shoes for the plow to keep on stock, Lou 2nds, all in favor motion passed. Lou said we also did not get a dehumidifier for this building. It was approved several months ago so he is ordering one.
Flag pole is back up now. It has been fixed.
Parks & Rec
We have sent out the vendors, worked on events for the year.
No other business motion to adjourn made by Keith, 2nd by Sue all in favor motion passed.
Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer